A study of the inclusive charged hadron production in two-photon collisions is described. The data were collected with the DELPHI detector at LEP II. Results on the inclusive single-particle p(T) distribution and the differential charged hadrons d sigma/dp(T) cross-section are presented and compared to the predictions of perturbative NLO QCD calculations and to published results. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In the reaction e(+)e(-) -&gt; WW -&gt; (q(1) (q) over bar (2))(q(3)(q) over bar (4)) the usual hadronization models treat the colour singlets q(1)(q) over bar (2) and q(3)(q) over bar (4) coming from two W bosons independently. However, since the. nal state partons may coexist in space and time, cross-talk between the two evolving hadronic systems may be possible during fragmentation through soft gluon exchange. This e. ect is known as colour reconnection. In this article the results of the investigation of colour reconnection e. ects in fully hadronic decays of W pairs in DELPHI at LEP are presented. Two complementary analyses were performed, studying the particle. ow between jets and W mass estimators, with negligible correlation between them, and the results were combined and compared to models. In the framework of the SK-I model, the value for its. parameter most compatible with the data was found to be: (SK)-S-kappa-I = 2.2(-1.3) (+2.5) corresponding to the probability of reconnection P-reco to be in the range 0.31 &lt; P-reco &lt; 0.68 at 68% confidence level with its best value at 0.52.

A search for the pair production of fourth generation b'-quarks was performed using data taken by the DELPHI detector at LEP-II. The analysed data were collected at centre-of-mass energies ranging from 196 to 209 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 420 pb(-1). No evidence for a signal was found. Upper limits on BR(b'-&gt; bZ) and BR(b'-&gt; bZ) were obtained for b' masses ranging from 96 to 103 GeV/c(2) stop. These limits, together with the theoretical branching ratios predicted by a sequential four generations model, were used to constrain the value of R-CKM=vertical bar V-cb(') /V-tb'V-tb vertical bar there V-cb', V-tb' and V-tb are elements of the extended CKM matrix.

Measurements are presented of R-b, the ratio of the b (b) over bar cross-section to the q (q) over bar cross-section in e(+)e(-) collisions, and the forward-backward asymmetry A(FB)(b) at twelve energy points in the range root s = 130-207 GeV. These results are found to be consistent with the Standard Model expectations. The measurements are used to set limits on new physics scenarios involving contact interactions.

An experimental study of the normalized three-jet rate of b quark events with respect to light quarks events (light = l equivalent to u, d, s) has been performed using the CAMBRIDGE and DURHAM jet algorithms. The data used were collected by the DELPHI experiment at LEP on the Z peak from 1994 to 2000. The results are found to agree with theoretical predictions treating mass corrections at next-to-leading order. Measurements of the b quark mass have also been performed for both the b pole mass: M-b and the b running mass: m(b)(M-Z). Data are found to be better described when using the running mass. The measurement yields: m(b)(M-Z) = 2.85 +/- 0.18(stat) +/- 0.13(exp) +/- 0.19(had) +/- 0.12(theo) GeV/c(2). for the CAMBRIDGE algorithm. This result is the most precise measurement of the b mass derived from a high energy process. When compared to other b mass determinations by experiments at lower energy scales, this value agrees with the prediction of quantum chromodynamics for the energy evolution of the running mass. The mass measurement is equivalent to a test of the flavour independence of the strong coupling constant with an accuracy of 7 parts per thousand.

This paper presents the final interpretation of the results from DELPHI on the searches for Higgs bosons in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM). A few representative scenarios are considered, that include CP conservation and explicit CP violation in the Higgs sector. The experimental results encompass the searches for neutral Higgs bosons at LEP1 and LEP2 in final states as expected in the MSSM, as well as LEP2 searches for charged Higgs bosons and for neutral Higgs bosons decaying into hadrons independent of the quark flavour. The data reveal no significant excess with respect to background expectations. The results are translated into excluded regions of the parameter space in the various scenarios. In the CP-conserving case, these lead to limits on the masses of the lightest scalar and pseudoscalar Higgs bosons, h and A, and on tan beta. The dependence of these limits on the top quark mass is discussed. Allowing for CP violation reduces the experimental sensitivity to Higgs bosons. It is shown that this effect depends strongly on the values of the parameters responsible for CP violation in the Higgs sector.

The effect of the heavy b-quarkmass on the two, three and four-jet rates is studied using LEP data collected by the DELPHI experiment at the Z peak in 1994 and 1995. The rates of b-quark jets and light quark jets (l = uds) in events with n = 2, 3, and 4 jets, together with the ratio of two and four-jet rates of b-quarks with respect to light-quarks, R-n(bl), have been measured with a double-tag technique using the CAMBRIDGE jet-clustering algorithm. A comparison between experimental results and theory (matrix element or Monte Carlo event generators such as PYTHIA, HERWIG andARIADNE) is done after the hadronisation phase. Using the four-jet observabl R-4(bl), a measurement of the b-quark mass using massive leading-order calculations gives: m(b)(M-Z) = 3.76 +/- 0.32 (stat) +/- 0.17 (syst) +/- 0.22 (had) +/- 0.90 (theo) GeV/c(2). This result is compatible with previous three-jet determinations at the M-Z energy scale and with low energy mass measurements evolved to the M-Z scale using QCD renormalisation group equations.

The DELPHI detector at LEP has been used to measure multi-muon bundles originating from cosmic ray interactions with air. The cosmic events were recorded in "parasitic mode" between individual e(+)e(-) interactions and the total live time of this data taking is equivalent to 1.6 x 10(6) s. The DELPHI apparatus is located about 100 m underground and the 84 metres rock overburden imposes a cutoff of about 52 GeV/c on muon momenta. The data from the large volume Hadron Calorimeter allowed the muon multiplicity of 54,201 events to be reconstructed. The resulting muon multiplicity distribution is compared with the prediction of the Monte Carlo simulation based on CORSIKA/QGSJETOI. The model fails to describe the abundance of high multiplicity events. The impact of QGSJET internal parameters on the results is also studied.